Who says business travel is not sexy? There are loads of
benefits like nice dinners, stress free flights, wonderful hotels, not to
mention flights miles and hotel points.
Any of you that know me, know that I always say it's not bad but ultimately it is another uncomfortable bed with a windowless conference room, many
times without air conditioning. This
statement served true for nearly 7 years on the road… and then I went to
Jakarta.
My first trip to Jakarta was during a business internship
in 2002, I remember thinking (and telling many people) that it is closer to a
cavern where organic waste could be stored (make your own interpretation). While it has been 12 years since that last
experience not too much has changed.
Before I get into some of the joys of Indonesian business
travel I want to let our readers know that I know there are worst places in the world to travel. But don’t let this blog swing your opinion of
Singapore or other Southeast Asian countries as Jakarta is in its category of its own.
What follows are some of the interesting observations
that I have seen on two recent trips to Jakarta.
·
Upon entering in the country you have to buy a
visa on arrival for $25 USD, if you give them anything but USD they get you on
the exchange rate. You then get in
another line to get your passport checked.
It would be more efficient if you just handed them your passport with
$25 USD in it, but that would make for a bad perception, so you wait in 2
lines.
·
Like most places it is total chaos when you get
out of the airport. EVERY traveler to
Jakarta has said that you only get into one cab company, the ones with the birds; blue bird, silver bird, black bird, etc.
I never really asked too many questions as to why, I just do as I'm told.
·
There are very few traffic lights, but the ones
I did see were more of a recommendation then actually used to control traffic.
·
Combat driving is common in most parts of Asia,
but I have never been in a country where the proximity sensors constantly go
off while you are driving in slow traffic since all of the cars are so close
and people and motorcycles are in-between all of the cars.
 |
| Kids playing soccer in between freeway overpasses |
·
The pollution is not as noticeable as China or
Vietnam, but with less than 30 minutes in the taxi I can feel it at the back of
my throat and taste it.
 |
| Skyline of Jakarta from my room |
·
They have a “private” bus lane that cars and motorcycles
are not allowed to drive in. Needless to
say you see loads of non-buses in there (remember rules are more
recommendations.) The most amazing is
part is that the buses are not normal city buses, they are closer the spaceship looking buses at Washington Dulles airport with huge wheels. I saw why they had these large tires after I
saw it jump the curb to get out of the bus lane in order to make a turn.
 |
| Police escort for our conference bus |
·
This is a typical tropical environment that is
always hot and humid, but there are signs for Starbucks at least every half
mile.
·
It makes you feel very safe when you arrive at the hotel and you are stopped a checkpoint and the cab immediately pops the trunk so the security guards can look in
the trunk for bombs/weapons. Once you get to the front door you must put your bags
through an x-ray machine and you walk through a metal detector, much like going
to the airport.
 |
| Welcome to the hotel! |
Despite all of these insights, if you ever get to go to
the financial district area of the city it is much cleaner and has a lot of
nice things to see. The next work trip
is to Japan and I’m looking forward to a metal detector-free hotel.
Until then,
Amy & Raegen
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